Why are you closing your searchroom?
Because of essential building work which will be taking place to completely replace the lift in the Victoria Tower. This is where the Parliamentary Archives are kept and we use the lift to retrieve records for the public in our searchroom.
When are you closing?
We don't know the exact dates yet, but it will take place during spring/summer 2013, and should take four months. We won’t be taking any searchroom bookings between 1 April - 31 October 2013 for the moment, until dates are finalised.
But I want to visit between April and October this year!
This might be possible at some point as the work won't take the full seven months, we just can't confirm which four months right now as plans are still being finalised by the Parliamentary Estates Directorate. Please check our website for up-to-date closure dates. If you can visit before 31 March, or after 1 November, please do in order to guarantee that we are open.
Surely you don't have to close just because of a lift?
The Victoria Tower is 98 metres high (323 feet) and the archives are stored on all 12 floors. The lift is used on a daily basis to retrieve records from these floors on trolleys and without it we won't be able to fetch archive material except on an extremely limited basis.
Can't your staff just carry the records down the stairs?
Here's what the staircase looks like:
As you can see, it's a spiral staircase with a huge drop in the middle and was built in the nineteenth century. We have to be really careful going up and down, even without carrying anything. And our archives come in all shapes and sizes, some of which are very difficult to carry even very short distances without risking damage to them or us. Deposited plans, for example, can be huge, flat and heavy.
How come this lift needs replacing anyway?
The last refurbishment was almost twenty years ago, and when it breaks down, it's really difficult to get replacement parts. It did break down for a while during 2012, and we found it impossible to run our public searchroom while it was out of action. That is why it is a priority to sort out as soon as possible.
But I only want to search some databases and see some books which I know aren't kept in the Victoria Tower - they're right outside your searchroom.
We will be opening one day a week for consultation of these kind of things. Here's a full list:
• Reference books (references starting BOOK)
• Printed Journals of the House of Lords and House of Commons
• Printed Parliamentary Debates
• Statutes of the Realm 1225-1714
• Statutes at Large 1225-1869
• Printed Public General Acts 1869-present
• Printed Local Acts 1834-present
• Electronic resources (including digitised House of Commons Parliamentary Papers)
If you want to visit and see anything on this list, that should be possible, and once we finalise our closure dates we will also announce which day of the week we will open for this and take bookings.
If I can't visit and see things, can I send you an email instead telling you what I want? Maybe you can send me copies?
Yes you can, although it might take us longer than usual to reply because of the difficulty retrieving documents during the lift work. If you can be specific about what you want and give us catalogue references, we can quote you for copying. If there's a lot of it, though, or if a particular item is too big or heavy to carry down safely, we will not be able to actually do the copying until after the lift is back.
More information about our catalogue, enquiry services and copying services
I don't want to visit or order copies, but I do want to email you with a query about the history and/or records of Parliament. Can I still do that?
Yes you can, although it might take us longer than usual to reply if we need to consult any documents in the Victoria Tower to answer you. We do not have the staff resources to carry out research for you, but may be able to check facts and briefly look things up for you.
More information about our enquiry services
I want to bring a special interest group to visit the Parliamentary Archives, will that be possible?
Long tours for group visits will not be possible during our closure period, but a short visit may be. Please email us to discuss further.
I didn't know the archives were kept in a tower, can you tell me more?
Here's a leaflet about the history of the Victoria Tower.
The Victoria Tower and the archives of Parliament